Ready, set, go!

Sometimes mindfulness needs to step aside for routine. For me that time is, and has always, been morning.

When my children were small the orchestrated morning rituals allowed things to flow from rising to departure for school and the office with relative ease. Of course, when there are kids involved, there are an infinite number of variables that can mess up “the plan”, but for the most part, it worked well. My motto has always been “Organize or perish”. The children have long ago grown and gone, but I still have my four-legged children who are masters of routine, and have pretty messy ways of reminding you if you forget something.

Seriously, putting a number of things on autopilot actually allows me to be present and flexible when it really counts.

Canadian artist , Robert Genn, writes a twice-weekly letter. Not limiting himself to art-specific topics such as composition, color and line, his musing touch on topics related to lifestyle, and especially ways one’s life choices support creativity. In a real sense, we are all artists, trying to manifest the life we envision whether at work or home, even if we never pick up a paint brush or clay.

I loved a recent one that looked at the whole subject of decision making – and how to save the energy for the “big stuff” by allowing routine to take care of the smaller ones. After all, good decision making takes effort, and some things are simply worth more of that effort than others. Deciding what to have for lunch or what toothpaste to buy doesn’t carry the weight of say,” who should I marry”, or “what’s the best strategy for getting that grant money”, or even “where should I go for vacation”.

Genn writes : “Choreographer Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit, describes her morning routine of rising early and going through the same morning rituals; same coffee, same bun. She puts on the same leotards, goes down the same elevator to the same street corner, puts her same arm up in the air and gets into the first cab that comes along. By the time she gets to the studio she has made no significant decisions. Stepping out onto the dance floor, her dancers await. It’s eight in the morning and her first decision is yet to come. It will be a creative one.”

Albert Einstein helped to reduce excess thought by paring his wardrobe choices. Everyday he wore the same thing, a brown wool sweater with a dress shirt and tie, and dress slacks with penny loafers. He believed that to chose outfits uses to much valuable brain power that could be applied to other things. Oh yes, and to save time he didn’t comb his hair or wear socks.

Author Stephen King has a routine that goes like this: “There are certain things I do if I sit down to write,” he said. “I have a glass of water or a cup of tea. There’s a certain time I sit down, from 8:00 to 8:30, somewhere within that half hour every morning,” he explained. “I have my vitamin pill and my music, sit in the same seat, and the papers are all arranged in the same places. The cumulative purpose of doing these things the same way every day seems to be a way of saying to the mind, you’re going to be dreaming soon.”

In the discipline of forming a routine lies the seeds of freedom to spend our energy and time in ways that most matter to us.

Artist or not, Genn goes on to list some good ideas for minimizing unnecessary decision making so you can get to the “real stuff” of life and work. Here’s the list;

THE LIST:

Simplify morning rituals.

Keep regular habits by day and week.

Have your workplace nearby and handy.

Work in a space unsullied by impedimenta.

Use a day-timer–plan your work; work your plan.

Always ask–”Is this action necessary?”

Be businesslike–discourage time-wasters and interlopers.

Be efficient and mindful of wasted motion in your space.

Drive your car mainly for pleasure.

As far as possible, get stuff delivered and taken away.

Be modern–pay bills, bank, book flights, etc., online.

Keep your dress code practical and simple. You don’t need to look good in a studio.

Finally, and most important, with every non work-related decision, you need to decide: “Is the decision I’m making truly needed, or is it just another excuse?”

So after looking over the list, you’re most likely thinking about how your own style of moving through the day compares. If you’re finding yourself a little more frenetic and a little less zen-like than you’d care to be, trying one or two things on the list and see what happens. There’s nothing to compare with the laboratory of daily life for testing things out.